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Mr van Dongen was left paralysed and scarred by the attack. He had his lower left leg amputated and lost the sight in his left eye, as well as most of the sight in his right eye, before his death in January 2017.

Mr van Dongen told police he woke at 3am on September 23, 2015, to hear Wallace laugh and tell him before she threw the acid over him.

Wallace, from South Africa, was charged with murdering Mr van Dongen and throwing a corrosive substance and has been the subject of a trial lasting nearly a month.

He said: “In her darker moments, she bought a bottle of sulphuric acid. She removed the label and she read up about attacks with sulphuric acid. Mr van Dongen told people that she had a violent temper and he told people he was scared of her.”